Factions

Factions represent the forces within Blightmeer that aren't the warbands of the players. Factions are in constant conflict, both with each other and internally, with continual power struggles to determine who leads a faction at any one point and which faction holds influence over the city.

Each warband is aligned with a Faction, who acts as a patron of sorts. While having their own individual goals, warband's must also help to advance their Faction's goals. This means they are periodically coerced into carrying out their Faction's bidding, sometimes to the warband's detriment.

At the end of the campaign, should a warband have gained enough favour with their Faction, their benefactors will provide assistance to help them attempt to carry out their ultimate goal.

Faction Overviews

There are three Factions in total, grouped by how they wield their influence over Blightmeer. None of the three Factions are considered morally good or evil. All three may have specific figures that tend towards one side or the other, but none are above reproach.

To get a sense of each Faction for the purposes of selecting one for your warband, each one is described below.

Law

The Law Faction is a group of people aligned to the law of Blightmeer. Its current leaders tend to be those that held high positions of power before the populace was quarantined and society began to descend into anarchy. Old governmental, religious, and martial powers within the city tend to align with this Faction.

While they may have ruled by law before, this was not necessarily with a just hand. Greed and corruption were rife, with various institutes vying for superiority within Blightmeer. Now that the city is crumbling, they are simply doing so more openly.

Using what power they still have, these entities are grouping together in an attempt to claw back control of the Blightmeer, while undermining each other at the same time.

Chaos

The Chaos Faction represents those that would see the Blightmeer fall into complete ruin. It's rumoured that the Chaos Faction is the source of the Blight itself, with their supposed purpose for doing so depending on who you ask.

Cults, rebels, and foreign powers are often involved in the Chaos Faction, meaning that those within it are rarely natural allies. Together they wage war against the Law Faction throughout Blightmeer, causing terror and fear in its already downtrodden inhabitants.

Cooperating in a shaky alliance, the Chaos Faction is just as likely to wage war against each other as it is the Law.

Underworld

While the other two Factions are locked in open war, the Underworld Faction attempts to profit from both sides, preferably without being noticed. This faction represents all manner of those that gain from the continuing unrest, with many of its members actively trying to prolong the crisis.

Gangs, smugglers, and assassins are all typical members of the Underworld. Groups within this faction will often try to stomp each other out in attempt to reduce competition, making use of their underhanded ways to do so.

Faction members will often take conflicting contracts, following through when it personally benefits them, but always profiting. Should they be too brazen, they may quickly experience the ire of the other Factions.

Faction Campaign Setup

As part of campaign creation, the group needs to do the following for each faction:

• Name the Faction
• Choose Faction Agents
• Choose Faction Henchman

After that, the players need to choose their Factions. They do that, by initially choosing their Factions, then redistributing as needed to ensure as even a distribution of players between the Factions as possible, based on the player count.

Creating Factions

As part of starting a new campaign, the group must determine the exact makeup of the factions. Each Faction should be named prior to the start of the campaign, to help build the backdrop of the campaign from which the player's stories will arise. In addition, the exact Faction Agents and Faction Henchman need to be determined. We recommend doing this randomly, but other methods can be used if the group can reach a consensus on how to do so. The exact method to do so is described in the following sections.

Choosing Faction Agents

Faction Agents are the central figures within a Faction, each vying for ultimate control. They will appear at various points throughout the campaign, sometimes as allies or as enemies.

Faction Agents tend to be quite impactful, being able to hold their own against members of a warband or having some other ability that makes them useful or dangerous. In general, they are about as complicated from a rules perspective as a hero of a warband.

To choose Faction Agents for each Faction, determine them randomly from the full list of potential Faction Agents for that Faction. The number of Faction Agents per faction is: Total Players / 3 (rounded up) + 1. See the table below for examples.

Faction Agents Table

Total Players	Faction Agents Per Faction
2	2
3	2
4	3
5	3
6	3
7	4
8	4

Reskinning Faction Agents

Changing the names, descriptions, or even equipment of a Faction Agent is encouraged. Feel free to do so, so that they match any models that you have available. The only restriction is that units that have Ranged Weapons should still have them and those that don't have Ranged Weapons should still not have them. For Melee Weapons, roughly equivalent ones should be substituted if possible (so replace a one-hander with another one-hander, rather than a great weapon).

A particularly great way to reskin a Faction Agent is to have a hero from a previous campaign become the Faction Agent. One of the players obviously has the model and it's (probably) not being used for the current campaign. This helps everyone feel like the world is a living, breathing space and makes Faction Agent deaths more impactful and tragic.

Choosing Faction Henchman

Faction Henchman are the underlings that the Faction uses to carry out minor tasks or provide assistance in battle. They are simpler than Faction Agents, being closer in complexity to a henchman in a warband.

Similarly to Faction Agents, Faction Henchman are determined randomly. However, instead of being dependent on the number of players in that Faction, a single Faction Henchman type is selected at random for each Faction. These Faction Henchman will appear throughout the campaign.

Faction Selection

After everyone has created their Warbands, it is now time for each player to decide which Faction they will align with during the campaign. This may provide them with some advantages (or disadvantages) during Events. It will also determine the Special Scenarios they will be in and what Faction Agents and Henchman they can temporarily hire to assist you in battles.

Players can choose any of the three Factions:

• Law
• Chaos
• Underworld

To help decide on your Faction, you can think about your warband narratively. Consider some of the following questions:

• How do they interact with Blightmeer and other warbands?
• Why are they in the city and what is their end goal?
• Who are their natural enemies and allies?

Even if you feel as though your Warband would not typically align with a Faction, you are more than welcome to choose any of them. In fact, Faction choices that go against the grain may provide interesting narrative opportunities.

If you don't feel tied to one specific Faction, that's okay. In fact, that may make Faction assignment easier for others.

Player Distribution Across Factions

A campaign requires Factions to be as evenly distributed between the players as possible. So, for a 5-player campaign, two Factions would have two players and the third Faction would have one player.

When choosing Factions, we recommend players to all decide on what their preferred Faction is. If, after tallying up everyone's choices, the Factions are not as even as possible, those that are in the largest Faction(s) should decide between themselves who will switch.

We recommend having a discussion and seeing if someone could fit the narrative of their warband into one of the other Factions. Maybe two warbands wanting to be in the Law Faction would actually be natural enemies, so one of them could switch to the Chaos Faction instead. Alternatively, if someone does not feel strongly about their Faction choice, they can also switch. If players cannot come to an agreement, decide randomly as to who will switch.

After players have chosen their Factions, they should write it down in the 'Faction' section on their warband sheets.

Interacting with Factions

There are a number of ways players will interact with Factions throughout the campaign. They are briefly described here, but are described in more detail when they come up within the rules themselves.

Faction Agent Deck

All interactions with Factions use the Faction Agent Deck. This is a deck that consists of all of the Faction Agents for the campaign. Each card in the deck has all of the information relevant to the Faction Agent, including Event rules and stats.

This deck is shared between all players and all games. This means that, if games are running concurrently and a Faction Agent is in one game, it can't appear in another at the same time. This means that groups can have a single model that represents the Faction Agent and it increases the variety of Faction Agents seen by the players.

Events

When an Event triggers in a game, a Faction Agent is selected at random. This Faction Agent then appears on the board, having some predetermined goal it will attempt to carry out. This can vary wildly depending on the agent. A Law Faction Archbishop may try and heal the injured, a Chaos Faction Blight Prophet may try to spread Blight to the masses, while an Underworld Thief may try to run off with some Treasure.

Neutral Unit Rules

As part of Events, Neutral Units will appear on the board. They act independently of the players, although some may help some players while hinder others. There are a number of common rules for Neutral Units (Faction Agents, Faction Henchman, or any other Neutral Unit), which are described below.

Unit Disposition

Neutral Units can either be Hostile or Neutral towards player's warbands. If they are Hostile, they will generally actively seek out and attack that warband. If they are Neutral, they will ignore that warband.

If Neutral Units are ever targeted by a spell, or attacked in any way, they will become Hostile to the offending unit's warband (if they weren't already).

Unless explicitly stated, a Neutral Unit is Neutral to each warband.

Attempting to 'Ally' with Neutral Units

Certain warbands may be able to 'ally' with a group of Neutral Units. If it is stated that a warband is able to, they can attempt to do so. At the end of the Movement phase, if the warband has a unit within 5" of the Faction Agent, that unit can make a Morale Check. On a success, the Faction Agent and any other units that may be with it become Neutral to that warband and Hostile to all other warbands.

This can only be attempted by each warband once per game. Unless stated otherwise, once a warband has allied with Neutral Units, no other warband can then attempt to ally with them.

Triggering Units

Often in Events, 'Triggering Units' are mentioned. This is simply the unit that picked up the Treasure that triggered the Event. 'Triggering Player' is the player of the 'Triggering Unit'.

Targeting

Neutral Units will often 'Target' a unit. Unless explicitly stated, the Target is the closest Hostile unit by distance (rather than the closest one via Movement). This can include units that are not in Line-of-Sight.

Injuries

Neutral Units handle Injuries the same way as other units and Recover at the start of the Neutral Turn similarly to other units.

Normal Actions

If explicitly stated that a unit performs Normal Actions, it will do so. They will do the following on their turn, resembling a normal player turn.

1. If the Neutral Unit is within Engage distance of the Target, they will Engage it
   1. The Neutral Unit does not need to perform Out-of-Sight Rolls if the Target is not within Line-of-Sight
2. If the Neutral Unit cannot Engage, it instead makes a Move toward the Target, moving as directly as possible toward it.
   1. The Neutral Unit does not Run or move in a way that would require an Agility Check, unless stated otherwise
   2. The exception is if the Target is unreachable unless the Neutral Unit performs an Agility Check. In this case, the Neutral Unit moves towards the Target by performing the least number of Agility Checks.
3. If the Neutral Unit is not Engaged and has a Ranged Weapon, it will make a Ranged Attack against the Target, if it has Line-of-Sight and is within range.
   1. If it does not, it will target the closest Hostile Unit within Line-of-Sight, if it is within range.
4. If the Neutral Unit is Engaged, resolve that Melee combat.
   1. This may mean that units may take part in Melee combat multiple times before it reaches that unit's turn again, similar to multiplayer games

Retreating

If a Neutral Unit is Retreating, it treats the closest point that's a board edge as the Target for the purposes of Moving. It still follows the conventions for Neutral Unit movement (generally not Running or making Agility Checks). It will make Ranged Attacks against the nearest Hostile unit if able, as per Step 3 above.

Neutral Units and Treasure

Neutral Units can pick up Treasure. They are not impacted by other units contesting Treasure and will pick up Treasure even if there are Hostile units nearby. If they defeat a unit that has a Treasure in Melee combat, they will take that Treasure. As usual, they cannot Run or carry more than one Treasure.

Faction Support

Another way that players may interact with Faction Agents and Henchman is via Faction Support. Should a warband be underperforming relative to other warbands, a Faction will lend its support in the form of Henchman, or even Agents, that will temporarily fight for that warband. This is in the Faction's interests, as providing a little extra assistance to a protege may turn their fortunes around.

Special Scenarios

Factions are at their most impactful during Special Scenarios. During them, each player has a Faction Agent as an ally, with Faction Henchman as further potential support. These Special Scenarios are often about carrying out the Faction's will, so they will be particularly invested in your success.

Should you win a Special Scenario, the Faction Agent that allied with you during it will even become a patron of sorts, being more willing to lend you their aid in the future.

Faction Agent Scars and the Blight

Faction Agents can die from Scars and the Blight, just like anyone else. Whenever a Faction Agent is Incapacitated during a game, roll on the Hero Scars table. Keep track of any Scars, as well as whether they are Deathtouched.

The Blight is handled the same way as any other unit, checking to see if they catch it. If they do, they must make Blight Progression Rolls as usual, but only after games that they participate in.

They do not make Improvement Attempts whenever they would be required to do so. Faction Henchman similarly cannot Promote.

Faction Agent Death

Should a Faction Agent die, select a new one at random from that Faction's Faction Agent list, essentially replacing the dead agent with the new one.

Playing Without Factions

While we highly recommend playing with Factions, if your group lacks the minis to make fielding Factions practical, or if you want a simpler campaign, it is possible to play without Factions. If this is the case, do the following:

• Remove Events by removing the Event Token that reads 'Event' on it.
• Alter Faction Support to now give 30g of Warband Support for each Win you have less than your opponent. This works identically to Faction Support, but the Gold can be spent on temporary units that are instead purchased from your own warband's Henchman section. This can allow you to go over the Max Units, but not over Caps for individual Unit Types.
• Do not use Special Scenarios. The winner of the campaign is simply whoever has the most Wins at the end (although you can always alter the campaign ending to suit your group).